


The Castle Game

by Azumeowth



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: M/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-18 20:54:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29496153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Azumeowth/pseuds/Azumeowth
Summary: It was supposed to just be a trip to Italy, wasn't it? Mobile MMORPGs aren't supposed to be this realistic.
Relationships: Prussia/South Italy (Hetalia)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 11





	The Castle Game

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dranoko](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=dranoko).



> This world is fictional, so no COVID-19, magic is real, and places are not 100% accurate because I've never been there.

Gilbert loved visiting old castles in Europe, especially ones that were still standing and not in ruins. He'd been to just about every one of them that he could—that he was allowed to tour, at least, or visited without getting into too much trouble. It was easy to go wherever he wanted since he was self-employed as a vlogger, but it meant that his younger brother was footing the bill for most of Gilbert's travel expenses in between videos and livestreams.

“You can't keep doing this.” Ludwig informed him. “Your videos don't bring in enough income to cover what you owe me. I would never kick you out, but you can't go through your whole life in debt.”

“I just haven't made a name for myself yet, that's all. I promise, I'll pay everything back as soon as I can. My next trip is scheduled for Italy, I'll get plenty of good footage there, who doesn't love the Italian countryside?” Gilbert lifted his camera for emphasis. His younger brother just sighed and shook his head in resignation.

“Fine. One more time, but after this I can't keep giving you money unless I see you paying some of it back.” Ludwig paused. “By the way, if you're going to Italy, you should think about inviting Feliciano's brother. Apparently he's been in an especially sour mood lately ever since Feliciano moved in with me.”

“When is Romano not in a sour mood?” Gilbert laughed. “But I guess I could ask him anyway.” With that in mind, Gilbert headed back to his room and sat down at his desk. He tried to decide whether to call or text his invitation. Calling him on the phone might not let him get to the point before getting hung up on, he thought, better to send him a single message. Instead of going for his phone, he went straight to Discord and selected Romano's username.

“ _Castel Nuovo_ next week, you in? I gotta tell Lud if you're coming with me to Italy.”

Gilbert pulled up Steam and played some games while he waited for a response. He was halfway through the intro of some indie game when he got Romano's reply.

“YOU'RE going to _Castel Nuovo_? You mean to tell me you're going to _Maschio Angioino_ and wondering if _**I**_ want to go??? Of fucking course I'm in, I would have hunted you down and murdered you if you went without me, you bastard.”

Gilbert grinned as he read the message and responded back immediately.

“Awesome. I'll send you the date and time to meet up once I've confirmed everything with my brother. See ya soon, Romanichi~” No longer interested in the game he was playing, Gilbert got up from his desk to return to his brother so they could book flights and a place to stay.

Quicker than expected, a week went by and Gilbert was packing his bags to head for the airport. His most important equipment—his camera and laptop—were going to be his carry-on luggage. He'd been to too many places and seen too many things to risk losing them. His clothing could get lost and he could easily replace them, but not his electronics. He knew the moment Romano arrived when he heard Feliciano shouting.

“Big brother! You must be so excited, you get to go see where _Nonna's_ half of our family came from! I wish I could go with you.”

“Hmph...I'm sure you could have, but I know for a fact you and that muscled potato have plans on Sunday.”

“Romano, have you been reading my journal??” Feliciano gasped in what Gilbert could only describe as feigned shock. He wasn't sure if Romano intended to reply or not, but he cut their conversation short by walking in and inserting himself.

“Hey Feli, I'd love to have you two all to myself, but Roma and I have to get to the airport before our flight leaves. Tell Lud I'll call him when we're checked in.”

“Oh, right,” Feliciano smiled and nodded. “Have fun, you two!”

Gilbert waved as he and Romano left to catch their flight to Italy. He didn't expect anything spectacular to happen while they were flying, so he'd made sure to pack some earbuds to listen to music while in the air. Likewise, Romano didn't seem up for conversation as he'd brought along his own tablet for entertainment. Gilbert supposed it didn't matter either way since the real adventure was the castle that awaited them. At least neither of them would be bothered by crying babies at any point during their travel. He updated his social media accounts during the flight and took a picture of himself and Romano that earned him an elbow in the gut before he could post it. The problems began when they finally made it to their hotel room.

“One bed.” Romano noted. “What kind of overhyped cliché bullshit is this?”

“I mean...it is Valentine's weekend, they probably just assumed every two people were a couple.” Gilbert scratched his head. “I'm sure it wasn't Ludwig's fault, he's so meticulous about things. He didn't even mention this when I talked to him on the phone.”

“Yeah right, I bet he did it on purpose.”

“Nahh...why would he do that?” Gilbert laughed and waved him off. “Well, we'll worry about this later, we've got more important places to be, yeah?”

Romano frowned but nodded to him in agreement and shoved his luggage into a corner.

"Fine. Grab your stupid gear and let's get to the castle. Just don't get us in trouble if you're not supposed to be filming something." Gilbert made a humming sound in reply as he prepared his things. He added a few things to his outfit to make sure pickpockets didn't assume he was an easy target. Romano could pass for one of the natives, but he knew he stood out even more as a tourist than even regular tourists would. Even his phone case had a heavy duty chain attached to his person.

"Alright, I'm ready." Gilbert winked at him and grinned. Romano rolled his eyes and led the way outside.

Normally, the walk to the castle would be fairly short, but Gilbert kept stopping to take pictures of the buildings around them. Romano would have complained, but something interesting caught his eye and he began dragging Gilbert in another direction.

"Look, it's the Fountain of Neptune! _Nonna_ had so many pictures taken here, I used to think she lived in the fountain when I was a kid." Gilbert eyed the fountain's majesty and suddenly had an idea.

"Hey, why don't we get some pictures of you here then, yeah? Kind of a family legacy thing." He got out his camera and motioned Romano into position.

"Funny thing is, it's not in the same location _nonna_ would have known it at." Romano positioned himself by the fence. "Did you know this statue has been moved all around Naples multiple times?"

"Geez that sounds like a pain in the ass." Gilbert laughed as he snapped some photos of Romano by the fountain. "I bet the water didn't look as scummy back then either. It's pretty awesome you can see the castle from here." He finished taking pictures and pulled out a coin. "Make a wish with me?"

"Hmm?" Romano tried to retain his moody demeanor, but failed to conceal a smile. "That's so cheesy, and anyway this isn't the Trevi, but yeah alright." He got a coin of his own and both of them tossed their coins into the fountain. Gilbert gripped his camera tightly to keep from dropping it and the two of them continued the short walk over to the imposing castle. Other tourists were flocking there and Gilbert decided to start recording as they walked.

"Hallo, Awesome Friends! Today's adventure starts in Naples, Italy at the Castel Nuovo. Look at it, almost as if it came out of a fairy tale." He panned the camera along the outside of the architecture. Romano snorted to himself as they approached the main entrance, more or less tuning Gilbert out at that point. When they reached the upper floors, something in the air changed. Less tourists were around the art exhibits. The two of them found themselves alone in front of a painting when their phones made an alert sound. Gilbert stopped narrating his video and looked at his phone. "Hey, what's this?"

"It's asking us if we want to play a game." Romano furrowed his brow in confusion.

"Aw man, this better not be some _Saw_ bullshit." Gilbert laughed nervously. "I bet it's just one of those cheap apps they advertise while you play other games. Didn't know they could make it location-specific though..."

"Well, should we try it?"

"If I get a virus, I'm blaming you, but yeah, let's go for it."

Gilbert and Romano answered yes, but instead of a game starting up, both of them disappeared.

Everything was dark when Gilbert opened his eyes, or at least he thought he'd opened his eyes. Had he passed out in the castle, and if so then what time was it? He groaned and tried to sit up, but his body felt heavier than usual. Once he was finally upright, he began looking around for his camera but quickly discovered his clothing was different than what he expected. Gilbert pat down his chest and felt chainmail where an average T-shirt should have been.

"What the fuck..." It was still dark, but he heard a groan next to him. "Roma, is that you?"

"Fucking duh...what just happened to us? Where are we? Did you take footage of something you weren't allowed to?"

"I don't have the answers to any of that," Gilbert admitted as he got up. "Can you stand? There's gotta be a way out of...wherever this is."

"Yeah...I don't know what the fuck I'm wearing though...is this a dress? What the hell..."

Gilbert blindly began walking forward and felt the with both hands. He hissed as his hands went from stone to wood and began pushing.

"This seems like a door. Follow the sound of my voice and help me push."

Romano stood and made his way to Gilbert, his hand connecting with his friend's back as he groped his way to the wooden door. "Ready? Push!" Both of them put all of their weight into the door which gave way beneath them to reveal a much different courtyard. Instead of tourists wandering around, it looked like a small town around the keep with various vendors selling their wares.

"What is this? How long were we out?" Romano glanced around. Gilbert turned to look at Romano and blinked as he saw the white robes in place of his usual fashionable outfit. Before he could say anything, they were approached by a strange man.

"Heroes! Oh, 'tis a wondrous day, someone has finally answered our king's plea for assistance. An evil beast has been terrorizing our fair city for months upon months. We need the two of you to free us from his tyranny. Fret not, for you will be greatly rewarded upon your return."

"Heroes...? Wait, that's right...before we passed out, we were going to play a game. But this can't possibly be...real...can it?" Gilbert blinked.

"There's no fucking way. Come on, where's the green screen?" Romano began clawing at the air and looking around for proof that this wasn't really happening. "Where is it?" He stomped his foot in frustration, then screeched in shock as a menu popped open in front of his eyes like a projection. "What the hell?" Gilbert came over to his side and began reading from the projection.

"Priest Lovino, level 20...it must be your stats and your character name. Cool, let me try." Gilbert stomped his foot and his own menu popped up. "Paladin Gisilberht, level 20. Hey, at least my name is close."

"Are you fucking kidding me? We're stuck in some kind of bullshit and you're worried about your name being almost correct?" Romano gave him an exasperated look.

"Romano, if this is a game...then that just means we have to win to get out of here. This kind of thing happens all of the time in the movies. Don't worry, you have an awesome paladin here to protect you." Gilbert grinned.

"But...doesn't that mean I'll have to fight too?" Romano frowned, nervously chewing at his lip.

"You're a priest class, so you'll probably be healing more than fighting. Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you." The NPC was still standing nearby staring at the two of them, presumably waiting for them to accept their quest. Once it was apparent both had accepted, he began speaking again.

"Wonderful! The beast is rumored to live in a cave at the base of the giant mountain. We all pray for your swift return." The NPC clasped his hands together and stood still, signaling the end of his dialogue.

"Are we still in Naples...because the only giant mountain nearby is...Vesuvius." Romano questioned flatly and with visible concern.

"Well..." Gilbert swallowed hard. "I'm sure it won't erupt while we're here, no...it's probably just for location's sake." He started to head for the archway exit. "Come on, Romano, the faster we get there, the sooner we win the game."

"Hey, wait up. Geez, you walk fast for a tin can." Romano shuffled after him. "I'm only wearing sandals, you get to wear actual boots. You realize this is going to be like a six hour walk, right?"

"Six hours? Yeesh. If this is really a MMO, we should at least have a mount of some kind..."

"I'm sure we could buy one, but game or no game, we have to have money for something like that and we haven't earned any yet."

"Well, maybe we'll see some random battles on our way up." Gilbert shrugged. "I hope so, because otherwise we'll reach the beast and not know how our fighting works."

As luck would have it, Romano and Gilbert did encounter random fights on their way to the cave. Gilbert wielded his sword as though it had always been a part of him and sliced through their enemies with ease. Romano tried to hide behind Gilbert as best he could while casting healing spells over the both of them. After only three hours of walking, Gilbert groaned and sat down on a rock.

"I envy actual game characters, they can walk and fight for days and never get tired. Roma, do you have any food on you?"

"Huh? I didn't even notice, but yeah, I've got bread and tomatoes, some water, and a flagon of ale."

"Gimme the bread and the beer." Gilbert stretched his arms out like a child. Romano snorted and handed over the bread and flagon, then sat down beside him and took out a tomato to munch on. "I've never understood RPGs where you have a whole mug of beer in your pack and it doesn't leak. Ah well, logic is overrated anyway." He laughed and drank his ale and ate the bread slowly.

"I never thought this is how I'd be spending Valentine's Day." Romano shook his head.

"As far as we know, it's still tomorrow. If we get out of this game, we can still grab some chocolates."

"That's not what I meant dammit...nevermind." Romano frowned and looked away. Gilbert raised an eyebrow and turned his head toward him.

"Is this about our brothers? Luddy said you'd been in a bad mood lately since Feli moved in with us."

"He said that?" Romano scowled deeper, but sighed. "I guess it's true. I always thought I'd be the first to leave home, but here we are and there he is off living with his dumb German boyfriend."

"Hey, that dumb German is my brother you know." Gilbert snickered. "Does it bother you that much that your brother's with another man?"

"Fuck...not really, that'd be pretty hypocritical of me, but what else is new?" He punched Gilbert's arm lightly so he wouldn't hurt himself on the mail. "Are you done stuffing your face yet?"

"One sec." Gilbert downed the rest of the flagon and tossed it aside, trying and failing to ignore Romano's pointed look at his littering habits. "What? It's a game, not real life. Nobody is getting harmed by a stray empty flagon." Gilbert and Romano continued their journey to the cave where the beast was said to live. Since they had no phones or flashlights to look in the cave, they waited outside while they figured out what to do.

"We don't even know what kind of beast it is. It could be a dragon for all we fucking know." Romano began to fret. "How are we supposed to kill it?"

"Well, hold on...nobody ever said it was a dragon. Give me one of those tomatoes, we'll leave it at the entrance and see if it comes out to investigate." Gilbert took a tomato from Romano and placed it in front of the cave, then grabbed him by the shoulder and led him behind a wall of bushes. After awhile, something came snuffling out of the cave. It had the body of a wolf, but a head like a black eagle with enormous wings to match its size. Neither of them had ever seen such a creature before.

"It looks like a gryphon...but with wolf parts where there should be lion parts." Romano whispered.

"Do we really have to kill it? It looks so majestic." Gilbert frowned. "Maybe there's another way to get it to stop attacking the castle town."

"One of my cleric spells looks like it could buy us some time...but I don't know if it would work."

"Let's start the battle, if it doesn't work, we'll see what else we can do." Gilbert leapt from the bushes and charged the beast. Romano hesitantly followed behind him. The beast snapped his beak at the two of them and tried to claw the sword away from Gilbert. Romano began preparing a spell and prayer. The beast raised its wings and sent Gilbert and his weapon flying backward. Romano gasped and caught Gilbert in his arms.

"I need more time to complete the spell, distract him."

"What do you think I've been doing?" Gilbert gently detatched himself from Romano's grip and grabbed his fallen sword.

"Well, do it more." Romano closed his eyes and once again tried to finish his prayer. Gilbert fought with the beast and tried to draw it away from Romano's direction. "Pacify!" He cast his spell over the beast, causing him to stop fighting and lay down. Gilbert stopped trying to swing his sword at the creature as well.

"You did it!"

"This is just temporary, so if you're gonna do something, you should do it now." Romano warned.

"There's gotta be something in my inventory..." Gilbert patted himself down as he tried to figure out how to access his game mechanics. "There!" He pulled a set of ropes out of his pack and fashioned it into a collar and leash that he then attached to the beast and climbed on its back. "Roma, get on his back behind me and hold on."

"What are you even doing...?" Romano ran over and climbed onto the beast's back, gripping Gilbert around the middle as tightly as he could.

"We're taming this beast." Gilbert got another rope and tied it to the collar to use as a set of reins. "Hyah!" The pacified creature stood up and leapt into the air with the two of them on his back and began flying back toward the castle. "Keep casting your pacify spell on him while we fly."

"Easy for you to say." Romano waited for his cooldown to end and cast pacify over the beast again.

"This is awesome!" Gilbert laughed as they rode the air currents. "Why walk when you can fly?"

"Because it's safer!" Romano shouted at him and buried his face in Gilbert's back.

"Romano, I won't let you fall. Look around, it's beautiful up here." Gilbert coaxed. Romano turned his head and looked at the scenery below.

"Yeah, I guess it is...but I still think you're fucking crazy."

Once they reached the castle, the people below began to scatter as they landed, believing it to be another attack.

"Fear not, for the awesome paladin Gisilbehrt and priest Lovino have returned!" Gilbert shouted as four paws hit the dirt. "Not with a trophy, but a new companion."

"Heroes!" The NPC exclaimed. "Many have tried to kill the beast, but none have tried befriending him. In truth, there is a curse on this creature. We dared not hope that we could ever have captured him alive. Priest Lovino, please cast Blessing upon him and you will see what I mean."

Gilbert and Romano looked at each other in confusion but dismounted the beast as Romano began to chant the prayer for his spell. As Romano cast Blessing over the beast, it began to change into a young man with a regal look about him. "At last, Prince Flavio has returned to us. Thank you, heroes. Your reward..." The words of the NPC faded out as the world once again darkened before their eyes. When Gilbert opened his eyes again, he realized they were still standing in front of a painting.

"...Romanichi?" Gilbert whispered.

"Did that...really happen?" Romano responded. Gilbert heard a notification go off on his phone and opened it up. On screen was a picture of the prince they had rescued with the words 'Thank You For Playing'.

"...it must have." He showed Romano the picture.

"Let's...go back to the hotel. I think I'm done with adventure for awhile." Romano rubbed his head and began to head downstairs. Gilbert walked after him while looking through his phone's files. If Romano thought it odd that Gilbert was being quiet, he didn't say anything. He led the way back to their hotel and made sure Gilbert didn't crash into him or anything else. Once they were safely indoors, Gilbert showed him his phone again.

"Look! Everything we did..it's right here on playback. But nobody will ever believe it really happened." He clucked his tongue in disappointment. "Figures. I guess I can upload it anyway, even if people think it's just a performance."

"At this point, I don't even care if there's only one bed. I just want to get some fucking sleep." Romano plopped down on the bed. "Yeah, sure, upload it, whatever." Gilbert got his laptop and sat on the bed next to Romano and began working on uploading his video to Youtube. He turned to look at Romano sleeping and smiled before making one last update to his twitter.

_Tomorrow, I'm going to ask him to be my valentine_.


End file.
